Sailing to Alaska, what other cruise lines are as nice as Disney?

[_auroraborealis_]

I think the reason RCCL has been neglected is because they decided not to take the awarded Glacier Bay concession. They didn't like the available use dates remaining after HAL and Princess took their legacy days.

 

[FSU Girl]

As a teenager I sailed on Princess to Alaska and had a good time. I've looked into sailing Norwegian now as an adult, but don't have any firm plans to go back yet. My biggest reason for not going with Disney was that they sail out of Vancouver instead of Seattle, which makes it harder to get to for us I'd rather have a direct flight. When I had looked into it they were sailing on Mondays which also makes it harder with vacation time from work instead of other lines that leave on the weekend.

 

[hogie1]

We sailed on the Celebrity Solstice in June 2017 out of Seattle. Stopped at Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway with a morning at the Endicott glacier. It was a fabulous ship. We booked a Sky suite cabins with a balcony. The suite level cabins have priority boarding, private lounge (Michael’s lounge) and private dining room. The day at the glacier, suite level guest were invited to the bow of the ship for viewing and they had hot chocolate and blankets for everyone! We booked far enough in advance that we had free internet, free premium drink package for two, tips included for two and $300 shipboard credit. We’re huge DCL fans, but we didn’t feel like we needed the Disney entertainment and dining experience for the Alaskan Cruise. They had a good selection of shore tours. We traveled with our then 11 yo son, so we had to choose family friendly shore tours.

Now I'm curious as to what "non-family friendly shore tours" are...... Any sailors around to chime in??? Hahaha!

 

[SL6827]

@SL6827 if you are just starting your planning, while there some good pieces of information here, you need to step back and take a look at the bigger picture. I have been to Alaska for work 5 times and on 1 cruise. In my view the first thing is for you to consider if going to Alaska is a one time thing and if so what do you want from that trip. The cruise is only going to see a small portion of a HUGE state.

There are options that you have with cruising.
- Round trip from Seattle or Vancouver - probably the cheapest and easiest option but also the shortest, as well as most limiting on ports and sites.
- One way cruise - northbound or southbound would be essentially the same but reversed. A few more stops or sites possible and the option to do a few days at each end. More costly mainly due to the extra logistics of the start and end points.
- Land and Sea options - cruise lines operate coordinate with the trains and other to companies to often take in sites that include places like Anchorage, Fairbanks, Denali, and Kodak before or after the cruise (usually one of the one way cruises). Great way to see some of the interior places as well as the cruise.

For our personal experience, we did 11 days on Ovation of the seas and it was a great ship for Alaska (for us). (RCCL is/was planning on two of the Quantum class ships doing Alaska in the future.) Solarium and indoor pool area really were great for watching the sites. Plenty of things to do on the ship for us and our son. Also the number of dining options really helped, as the long port days did not lend to keeping a dining schedule. And most of all we got a lovely two story suite for the same price what DCL wanted for 7 days in a veranda.

Some generalities about Alaska. Expect the tours and excursions for all the cruise lines to be very similar. Port days tend to be longer, most of ours were about 11 hours so you can usually get in two excursions if you try. Weather cannot be predicted for any cruise but expect to see at least some cool and rainy days. The views from the ship while sailing can be just as nice as the excursions so enjoy that also and don’t just wait for when you are stopped.

I am just dreaming. I know this is something my husband would loved to do SOME DAY. Guess I am just trying to get my mind off of the real world right now.

 

[Intr3pid]

We wouldn't do either Princess or HAL in Alaska because of their terrible dumping history in the Alaskan waters. Cunard - another GB licensee - is also owned by Carnival but hasn't been roped in with these past convictions - if that matters.

Otherwise, NCL also holds the GB license, so I would go with them if you must visit it. GB can also be done independently from Juneau.

The DCL experience is hard to replicate in Alaska for its very unique offering - that is, you are combining a visit to Alaska with a Disney experience. It has its place in Alaska for anyone traveling with kids since the kids can't just be entertained with mountains, glaciers, and fjords for 7 days.

if you don't necessarily need to visit GB and want to skip Disney, Celebrity would be my top choice.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Now I'm curious as to what "non-family friendly shore tours" are...... Any sailors around to chime in??? Hahaha!

Many of the kayak and canoe expeditions are 8+ or 12+. There are some bike tours that require a certain minimum age+height. Some people think the Skagway tour that includes the historic brothel isn't family-friendly.

 

[Kidanifan08]

Now I'm curious as to what "non-family friendly shore tours" are...... Any sailors around to chime in??? Hahaha!

. Good observation! I guess what I meant was tours that would appeal to a school-age child.

 

[travelmomof3]

We have a June DCL Alaska cruise scheduled but since it's not happening I'm thinking of doing HAL to Alaska next year. I really like that they have a naturalist on board and of course Glacier Bay.

 

[LAX]

We wouldn't do either Princess or HAL in Alaska because of their terrible dumping history in the Alaskan waters. Cunard - another GB licensee - is also owned by Carnival but hasn't been roped in with these past convictions - if that matters.

Otherwise, NCL also holds the GB license, so I would go with them if you must visit it. GB can also be done independently from Juneau.

The DCL experience is hard to replicate in Alaska for its very unique offering - that is, you are combining a visit to Alaska with a Disney experience. It has its place in Alaska for anyone traveling with kids since the kids can't just be entertained with mountains, glaciers, and fjords for 7 days.

if you don't necessarily need to visit GB and want to skip Disney, Celebrity would be my top choice.

Thanks for the info. I have been struggling with the idea of combining DCL and Alaska the last few years. Because I have never been to Alaska (unless one count a brief layover) and the articles I have read about Glacier Bay, I have been postponing that trip with the hope that some day DCL would have access.

LAX

 

[BritneyBelle]

For what it’s worth I will never sail on princess again. My husband and I did an Alaska cruise in 2014 and when we checked into our hotel on debarkation day my credit card was declined. Long story short Princess charged my card an extra $5,000+ above and beyond what we spent. It took FIVE WEEKS to get the charges reversed after Princess admitted it was their error and it had happened to numerous people on the ship, but they couldn’t fix it until after the first of the month for “accounting reasons.” I had to call them and my credit card company every day to get it fixed and was told by a Princess rep it was an “error but we’re fixing it in a few weeks as we already told you.” I know everyone can have a bad day but maxing our my card and not even apologizing for it does a lot to guarantee I will never repeat.

 

[MomOTwins]

. Good observation! I guess what I meant was tours that would appeal to a school-age child.

That is something we are wrestling with too. Seems like it is hard to find excursions on other cruise lines that are suitable for younger kids aside from whale watching and the train ride (and candidly, both of those would probably result in bored, stir-crazy kids fussing and asking when we are going to get back). DCL has more family-type activities (gold panning, scavenger hunts in the forest etc.) But the price tag... ugh. I'm thinking maybe we'll wait and see if there are some discounted rates next year if people are spooked from cruising.

Thanks for the info. I have been struggling with the idea of combining DCL and Alaska the last few years. Because I have never been to Alaska (unless one count a brief layover) and the articles I have read about Glacier Bay, I have been postponing that trip with the hope that some day DCL would have access.

My understanding is contracts for glacier bay are only awarded every 10 years, and the current contract cycle is 2019-2029, so the earliest DCL could be in glacier bay is 2030. We've been to glacier bay before on Princess before we had kids, and won't cruise with them again--we liked the food and the indoor pool, but our room was soooo tiny, the smoky casino that you had to walk through to get to anything was just awful, and the onboard activities and entertainment left a lot to be desired. All of Alaska is so beautiful--it's not just about the glaciers, it is also the mountains, the rainforests, the waterfalls. Mendenhall glacier as an excursion is nice too if you want more glacier viewing. I'd definitely be happy going on an Alaskan cruise again that didn't go to glacier bay.

 

[belle032]

I just booked NCL on the Encore for Alaska. September 2021 sailing. Itinerary included GB (which is important to us), and we got a good price for a balcony which included all the NCL "perks." We were going back and forth between Princess and NCL, but NCL had a little more appeal to us for how we like to cruise.